Complicated Vows: This Is War

The Darkest Truth

            Ratchet had finally finished running all of the necessary tests and scans that he thought we appropriate, and by now it was nearing sunset.

            “Are you sure that you feel fine? Nothing is wrong or hurting?” Ratchet emphasized the last word. Danielle simply shook her head at him, ignoring the inflection in the Bot’s voice, and tried to give a small convincing smile.

            “No sir, I’ll be alright, thanks.”

            “Don’t call me ‘sir’, just Ratchet. Optimus is the only one around here that should be addressed as ‘sir’.”

            “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll try to remember that si…sorry” she chuckled quietly.

            “One more thing. I’ve been informed that you will be staying here with us, as your shelter was destroyed by Starscream, the jet that blew up your home. He is a Decepticon, part of the league that works against us Autobots. Anyways, I am sorry to say that we don’t have any organic rooms for you to stay in, so for now you’ll be staying right here in the medical bay. I will try to gather some provisions to make your stay a little more comfortable.” He said before walking out, leaving Danielle in the med bay by herself.

            She was missing her soldier, whose named turned out to be Bumblebee. She thought it was quite a cute, and suiting, name.  Ratchet had chased him out of the medical bay when they began the psychological tests. They all thought something would be wrong with her head after all the recent events. They were right of course, but she’d never admit that.

            While Ratchet was gone, and to Danielle’s delight, Bumblebee snuck back into the bay to see her. He brought with him a sheet of paper with a blueprint printed on it. Circled in red was the medical bay and circled in yellow and black was a room down the hall, which Bee indicated was his.

            She didn’t know why he’d given her the directions to his room but she didn’t mind. She liked knowing where her guardian was.

            “Her Guardian.” The thought bounced around her mind and made her feel safe.

            Before he slipped out of the room, Bee played a “Goodnight m’lady” and took a small bow. She giggled and waved goodbye to the silly Bot. She didn’t know why but, even before he disappeared behind the door, she found herself missing him…

            Minutes later, Ratchet returned, toting a few pieces of cloth. He explained their lack of human-size sheets and that she’d have to make do with some freshly cleaned polishing rags from Mirage’s tool kit. The cloth was bright white and very soft to the touch so she didn’t mind that much. She folded one over a few times to make a pillow and crawled in between two more.

            “These will actually do quite well, si-Ratchet. Thank you.” She smiled up at him, hoping that he hadn’t caught her near slip of tongue.           

            “Hopefully you will go to town tomorrow to purchase proper provisions for yourself. Don’t worry about cost, we can cover whatever it is that you need. But rest for now, you’ve had a long day.” With that said, he turned out the main light and left.

            Various unidentifiable machines gave off dim glowing light, enough light to allow her to see, but not enough to keep her awake. She fell asleep swiftly, with thoughts of Bee buzzing around in her head.

            She was twirling happily in her favorite yellow sundress, dancing with the dragonflies. A friendly honk announced the arrival of her father in his big blue truck, carrying Jeramie Haughnt. They ran around playing tag for a while before finally tagging “base”, a massive old oak tree in the side yard. They both collapsed in a fit of giggles, Jeramie teasingly pulling on some of Danielle’s hair. She pinched him back and he squealed. Even though she was only five years old, and Jeramie six and a half, she had something like a crush on him